The government is likely to introduce pre-filled Income-Tax Return (ITR) forms for taxpayers with data on their capital gains from mutual funds, shares, dividend income and interest received from banks. Worth mentioning here is that the government has already introduced amendments to the Income Tax Act through the Finance Bill, which will allow the govt to seek data on annual financial transactions of a taxpayer from banks, brokers, depositories.

The Times of India citing sources said work has already begun on implementing the changes in the next few months. “We have held discussions with brokerages and other participants and suggested that the data should be made available to us so that taxpayers can get them in their pre-filled return forms,” the ToI report quoted a senior official in the tax department as saying.

The government has also consulted regulators such as the Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to include dividend income within the ambit. In any case, the proposed amendment for tax deducted at source (TDS) on dividend income beyond Rs 5,000 will be captured in the 26AS form and will help in pre-filling the returns forms.

Last year, the government had introduced pre-filled ITR forms, which had faced some glitches initially. But the tax department believes that they have been more or less resolved, paving the way to expand the scope. Officials said that the idea is to simplify things for an average taxpayer, which reduces the need for visiting a chartered accountant and makes the process seamless.

Tax experts say with the government proposing for a new tax regime, allowing people to give up exemptions in return for lower tax rates, ITR filing is going to be much easier for taxpayers. #casansaar (Source - TNN, Times Now)